The present invention relates in general to firearm safety and to devices that are constructed and arranged to cooperate with a firearm in order to provide or enable an added degree of safety. More specifically, the present invention relates to firearm safety devices that are constructed and arranged to actually prevent passage of an ammunition slug through the barrel (i.e., through the bore) of the firearm.
Firearm safety has long been a concern of anyone owning and/or using a firearm, whether for sport or leisure or in connection with a profession, such as law enforcement. There have been concerns regarding the complete removal of ammunition from the firearm, whether by emptying the magazine, removing the magazine, or clearing the chamber. No doubt virtually everyone is aware of firearm accidents where the firearm is discharged and the individual or individuals involved would swear that the firearm was empty. Virtually everyone has been cautioned about firearm safety concerns and, in an effort to protect children, firearm owners have been encouraged to lock up firearms, lock up ammunition, and use safety locks that would be applied directly to the firearm to prevent usage by children or any other unauthorized individual. These recommended measures have met with some degree of success, not only for the safety of children, but for the safety of adults as well. Nevertheless, accidents still happen, even with these types of safeguards.
It is likely that the level of risk of an accident occurring with a firearm is related to the frequency of use of the firearm and the nature of use. Statistically, with more limited use, there are fewer opportunities for someone to forget to remove the ammunition and fewer opportunities to forget to lock or lock up the firearm. When small children are not present, there is likely a lower risk of careless use or use of the firearm without proper supervision. With frequent use of a firearm and whenever several individuals are involved in the use or at least present during use, the risks increase. Someone may simply forget to properly empty the firearm and/or properly secure it. One of the individuals using the firearm or present during use may assume that someone else is taking the responsibility for firearm safety and the unfortunate reality may be that no one assumes this responsibility.
One activity where firearm safety is extremely important is during firearm training. In the context of the present invention, this firearm training is by and for law enforcement personnel. One of the needs, as part of firearm safety and firearm training, is to have a firearm that can be used for demonstration and training. If the selected firearm is otherwise fully functional, it is critical for safety concerns to first clear the chamber and empty or remove the magazine. Even when care is taken in this regard, accidents still happen. Additionally, those being trained are apprehensive when a fully functional firearm is used as the training weapon. To combat these concerns and reduce the level of anxiety, a number of techniques and approaches have been tried. For example, a broken or damaged pistol can be used for training, a pistol with parts removed can be used, a special training pistol can be created, or at times even a one-piece molded pistol is used. With some of these options, color coding is used to help alert others that the particular firearm or pistol is in fact a training or teaching pistol.
There are though disadvantages with each of the options listed above. With a broken or damaged pistol, or with a pistol where parts are removed (and not replaced), it is likely that the actual firearm will not have all of the component parts that are required to conduct all of the required training. This problem is particularly true for the one-piece, molded training pistol. For example, if the magazine is removed or if the magazine is only simulated by the one-piece molded construction, then one important training aspect cannot be demonstrated. When one arm or hand of a law enforcement officer is incapacitated, that officer needs to be able to remove the empty magazine from the firearm and insert a full magazine. While there are specific training techniques that demonstrate how this can be done, such training is not possible if there is not a fully functioning magazine and receiver as part of the firearm.
The pistols that are specifically manufactured for training purposes with one or more safety modifications to make the pistols nonfunctional are expensive and may still not possess all of the functional capabilities that would enable all actions and uses to be demonstrated as part of any training program.
The present invention provides a unique solution to the problem. The present invention includes a molded plastic barrel replacement component for the corresponding pistol. The barrel replacement component is a one-piece construction with the bore portion completely closed. Otherwise, this molded plastic barrel replacement is identical to the actual pistol barrel. The present invention allows an actual pistol or other firearm to be easily converted to a training weapon and then back again to a fully functional weapon with absolute and complete safety. By color coding the plastic barrel replacement, such as red or yellow, any observer will know at once that the pistol has been converted and there should not be any anxiety. The functional weapon is selected, the existing barrel removed, and the plastic barrel replacement assembled, thereby completing the conversion and converting the otherwise functional weapon to a training weapon. As should be clear, the pistol remains fully functional for all other training aspects, except that it is impossible to load any ammunition into the chamber due to the solid, one-piece construction of the plastic (substitute) barrel replacement.
The present invention is directed to replacement of a component part in the firearm. All other prior art devices either mold the entire firearm (nonfunctional) or remove a critical portion, without any replacement, or add something such as a rod or bar inserted into the barrel. In the first two situations, the firearm is not functional and important facets of the overall training agenda may not be demonstratable. In the last example, the added component can be removed, whether inadvertently or otherwise, and the firearm could fire. If the firearm is able to discharge even with a rod inserted in the barrel, then injury could result.